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overcrowded ships and he had ended up sleeping on deck with the ordinary soldiers.
    Which had turned out to be a fortunate thing. Seasick, green to the complex rules of army life, he had learned more up on deck from some of the old campaigners than he had ever learned at the military college at Farnham. All the same, he did not fancy a repeat experience.
    â€˜Or,’ he continued, ‘we could pretend we are married and share my cabin. I—’
    â€˜What?’ Miss Colebrook’s delightfully accented, softly modulated voice rose to the volume of a banshee’s shriek.
    â€˜Damn it all! You want to go to England, don’t you? You practically begged me to take you.’ Indignation and embarrassment warred with each other in Colly’s voice. So it wasn’t to madam’s liking? Well, that was the best he could bloody well suggest.
    â€˜Begged? I think not.’
    â€˜You were determined to come to England with me.’
    â€˜Well … not with you in particular. I want to get to England and you are someone I knew and trusted.’
    Colly noticed she used the past tense. ‘Unfortunately there are flaws in both schemes.’
    â€˜Yes, I cannot afford the price of a cabin on my own,’ she agreed.
    He brushed that aside. ‘It’s already paid for. But if you take the cabin on your own, we are back where we started. You will still need to find a companion.’ He chose his next words carefully. ‘If we give the impression we are married, however, that will solve the problem.’ Hah, he thought. It wouldn’t solve any problems for him, being around her, breathing the very air she breathed, trying to pretend an aloofness he could never feel. God, what had made him suggest such a ridiculous solution?
    You know very well why you suggested it , his conscience muttered. And, as Father said, you are the unwisest man ever born .
    Juliana sat bolt upright on her seat, clutching her reticule like a lifeline. ‘Sir, I don’t think—’ She tried again, obviously searching for a polite way to say no. ‘It wouldn’t work,’ she said at last.
    â€˜Juliana,’ he said softly, ‘do not be frightened of me. Please. I promise I would spend most of my time outside the cabin. Will you let me explain what happened when I was accused of … of rape?’ There, he’d said the word that had pursued him ever since that appalling day when he’d realized that if his own father didn’t believe him, then no one would.

    She put out a hand in protest, as if to push him away. ‘Sir, I do not—’ The carriage rocked to a halt outside the doors of Sao Nazaire. Colly jumped down and paid the driver, then turned to take Juliana’s arm. But she had already stepped down and scuttled across the pavement towards the big blue doors. The doors shut with a slam that echoed around the square.
    He stood on the doorstep watching the steam rising off the pavement as the sun came out from behind the clouds.
    This was the end. She was not interested in his story, not interested in him. Even though she was desperate to leave Porto, she would endure a loathsome job rather than travel with him. And who could blame her?
    Heart in his boots, he turned to walk away.
    Suddenly the door behind him opened and the fetid hospital odour assailed his nostrils. Juliana stood there, looking at him from beneath lowered lashes. One hand clutched the doorjamb so tightly that her knuckles gleamed white. He could see the trace of a tear on her cheek. She took a deep breath. ‘I’m coming with you,’ she said.

CHAPTER SIX
    C OLLY GULPED. ‘I see. Good.’ He regrouped as best he could. ‘Ah … as my wife?’
    â€˜Yes,’ she said tersely. The door shut again.
    Colly grinned and grinned and grinned. He had never before experienced the strange sensation of walking on air, but at the moment his feet did not seem to touch the